AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2026

Emerson Jones

Press Conference

V. MBOKO/E. Jones

6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: A tough match today. Could you walk us through your thoughts on the match.

EMERSON JONES: Yeah, I thought I played a pretty solid match. Especially, you know, she's such a great player and not much older than me. So, you know, I think her coming from confidence in her last tournament I think I stayed with the level the first set, pretty much, so I'm pretty happy about that.

Q. I just wanted to ask, compared to this time last year, how much I guess stronger and powerful you think your game is at and because, as you said, you were very competitive out there despite coming up against a no. 17 seed?

EMERSON JONES: Yeah, definitely I think my game's evolving pretty well. I'm pretty happy with how it is. And you know, even though I haven't won too many matches over these past three big tournaments, I think -- you know, I've played three matches against top 20s, so I think it's definitely lifted my level a bit.

You know, even though I didn't get the result I wanted, I think it still makes me confidence. And you know, I know the level, and I think it really shows where my level is at.

Q. Is it fun to, because as you said, she's not that much older than you, like, this is probably just one of many matches that the two of you will have over the next five to 10 years?

EMERSON JONES: I'm sure it is. You know, she's already up there, top 20, and I'm just breaking through. So I think, yeah, definitely we'll come up against each other a lot.

You know, right now she's a lot stronger than me. And she's still older. And she's young, too. So she has all the things. But yeah, for sure, I think we're going to come up against each other a lot.

Q. What do you think this year looks like for you in terms of plans, in terms of where you'll play, how you will play? What's the thinking from your team?

EMERSON JONES: After this, there's two 75Ks in Brisbane, so I'll definitely play them. I think all of us Aussies will play them. And, you know, I'm hoping to play some bigger tournaments. You know, despite my ranking, we'll see how that goes.

But I'm definitely looking to play, you know, like the Asia swing, that I didn't play last year, and maybe Miami and all that. So we'll see, yeah.

Q. You're going to go to America?

EMERSON JONES: Yeah, I will. I think. Yeah.

Q. What was sort of the big, would you say, learnings from today and just this experience the last week?

EMERSON JONES: The big learnings probably, you know, I know where my game is at. And I think I know, you know, coming up against top 20s I know what I need to work on.

I think I need to work on my serve a lot. And trying to maintain the level, to be honest. You know, I stayed with them, the set, or maybe even a bit less, but I have the level, I just need to keep maintaining it, but it will come with more matches I play at this level because I haven't really played that much at this level.

Q. Did you feel like you learnt anything from your round one match last year against Elena, that you were able to implement in this match even though you had a different opponent?

EMERSON JONES: Yeah, I mean, they both have really big serves, so yeah I think I got to learn how to deal with the big servers a bit more because they are very strong women in the top 20, a lot bigger than me. So yeah, I think they both hit really hard.

Rybakina was very hard to have a rally with. Victoria was, you know, I feel like we matched, you know, in the rallies, but she had a bit more than me, physically as well. So, yeah, I think I do learn a lot playing against these women.

Q. I think your agent represents both you and...

EMERSON JONES: He does, yes (laughter). No, I don't even know if he was there today.

Q. Have you hit with her before?

EMERSON JONES: Yeah, I hit with her at Wimbledon a couple of times. First time was actually at Wimbledon. It was pretty tricky on the grass, too, with her serve. Yeah, I've hit with her a couple of times.